POLITICS TODAY

By Comrade Musa Garba

Once again, I am forced to respond to yet another hatchet job — this time authored by one Ahmed Usman and disgracefully published as “Like Emefiele, Like Mele”. It was one falsehood that circulated so well that it was featured on Opera News. Clearly it’s a lazy, misleading piece that rehashes tired innuendos and reflects nothing but the author’s ignorance of the oil and gas sector and desperation to stain the legacy of a technocrat who gave his all to reform Nigeria’s energy landscape.

Let it be stated unequivocally: Mele Kyari does not owe armchair critics like Ahmed Usman any validation. As former Group Chief Executive Officer of the NNPC Ltd, Kyari led transformational reforms, including the Petroleum Industry Act implementation, the successful transition of NNPC into a commercially driven entity, and record-breaking oil and gas investments — achievements not even Ahmed Usman’s venomous pen can erase.

This is a man who stood firm against powerful cartels, confronted oil theft head-on, and survived threats from anonymous quarters just for doing the right thing. And yet, he never cowered. So the idea that a poorly-researched, bitterness-laced article can soil his name is laughable.

Unlike Emefiele, Mele Kyari never played politics. He simply worked. Those desperately trying to paint him with the same brush are either ill-informed or serving a script — perhaps both. But Nigerians are not fools. We remember the Kyari who fought subsidy racketeers, sanitized upstream operations, and helped rekindle investor confidence in Nigeria’s oil sector.

Let Ahmed Usman and his ilk rage. History has already recorded Kyari’s strides. No amount of skewed write-ups can undo the milestones etched under his watch.

Comrade Musa Garba is Director of Communications for
Concerned Stakeholders for Energy Truth[CSE]